Atheist oppression

John Ewing says that "almost every belief system has a history of stamping out non-believers" (24 April, p 24) but appears ignorant of the suppression of religious belief by officially atheist Communist states.

I agree with him, however, that from a historical perspective atheist belief systems seem to be nothing out of the ordinary. After all, their tenets are inscrutable to science and some of their adherents get strangely angry when others disagree. When their adherents have political power, they often resort to violence in support of their doctrines.

From John King

Ewing's observations on the oppression of atheists by the religious misses the point. History has many examples to show that religious groups have been just as vindictive towards other religious groups as they are towards atheists, and atheists have been known to act in much the same way towards the religious.

The determining factors seem to be ...

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